Chapter 2: New York State Bilingual Common Core Initiative: Creating Scaffolds for the Successful Education of Language Learners

The Bilingual Common Core Initiative (BCCI) is an effort by New York State, Queens College, City University of New York and bilingual teachers to promote the academic success of language learners as they face the demands imposed by the Common Core State Standards (2010, CCSS). The challenges that these populations of students face are unique given that they have to reach the complex demands described by the CCSS while at the same time learn a new language and new content. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the underlying principles that guided the development of the BCCI, and that they depart from previously held conceptions in bilingual pedagogy by incorporating translanguaging strategies and specific scaffolding supports that run across five different levels of language proficiency. These elements have had a profound impact on the participating teachers. The chapter ends with an exhortation for teacher education programs to deepen research and extend the knowledge base in these areas.